MIG-21 landing

[panzerd18]

Seems to be a very difficult landing. Pull the power off too soon and it sinks like a rock. Too slow and a very high angle of attack leading to lack of visability.

For me the best is to fly it all the way onto the runway, 350km/h and then only when flaring and stabilized to reduce the throttle to idle.

Anyone else have a fail safe technique?

[Chameleon_Silk]

MiG-21 lands fast and if its to slow then the visibility is not good but on a proper landing visibiltiy is fine.

keep in mind the right way to land (although not the only way) is to use proper glide slope and slowly come down as you fly the instruments all the way in, think of it this way if you lock in the right glide slope and lock in the direction your going and fine tune it the rest of the way the touchdown will be on time and on target... the instruments are a huge help for landing.

I will record a landing and see if it helps you to learn it mind you, I havent flown MiG-21 in awhile.

[kazereal]

You can pull off a "dead stick" landing with practice but it really does need the proper speed, altitude and glide slope on approach. It's not the landing itself but the setup before that which really matters. Remember to check how much payload you have to adjust for additional weight and so on.

[Chameleon_Silk]

yea its important to burn excess fuel before attempting a landing or the landing speed will be very high (or else you will stall at normal landing speed) keep this in mindwhen you are going in for approach, don't be ashamed to take a 15km approach at low speed either... a good approach is very important for setting up a great landing.... almost all my botched landings are because I give myself to short of an approach.

[kazereal]

Originally posted by Chameleon_Silk:

almost all my botched landings are because I give myself to short of an approach.

Exactly my problem as well :)

[Fisk]

Originally posted by Chameleon_Silk:

MiG-21 lands fast and visibility is definetly not good on a proper landing gotta use instruments to line it up and then you can use side of runway as a visual cue.

keep in mind the right way to land (although not the only way) is to use proper glide slope and slowly come down as you fly the instruments all the way in, think of it this way if you lock in the right glide slope and lock in the direction your going and fine tune it the rest of the way the touchdown will be on time and on target... the instruments are a huge help for landing.

I will record a landing and see if it helps you to learn it mind you, I havent flown MiG-21 in awhile.

What are you talking about?!
Landing of the Mig-21 is done at less than 340kmh (full flaps 88%rpm) ias at descent of 5m/s with gear down. pipper should be on or above the far end of the runway which means you have total visibility. descent should be done from 10km away at 600m altitude. If you keep it nice and stable you will have visibility of runway and a perfect smooth touchdown with full visibility. So again: full flaps down 88%rpm 340km/h at 10km away at altitude of 600m and speed of descent of 5m/s. Hope this helps

[Coka Fire]

I don't have the module, but just looking at the MiG-21 and it's short wings I can tell the thing isn't going to be doing very well at a low altitude and speed.

[Chameleon_Silk]

you want to touch down 1-2 m/s after a slight flare and still holding a decent amount of speed, its better to be a bit fast then to touch down as a sinking brick, 340kmh to 320kmh on touchdown as detailed on page 85-87 of the manual.

@Autilus what are you talking to me about it for, I have no problems landing MiG-21 (in good weather)

descent of 5m/s is gonna destroy you on touchdown as you pancake so you probably should have mentioned that you don't mean on touchdown (which you didn't detail)

[Chameleon_Silk]

corrected my post:

Note: At higher speeds the aircraft
will “refuse” to land, while at lower
speeds the runway visibility will be
severely affected by highly elevated
aircraft nose. So, avoid lower
approach speeds because your
visibility will be degraded and –
remember the “second regime”
(region of reversed command) –
your engine power might not be
enough to safely recover the aircraft
if the speed drops too much.

so its better to be 340kmh then it is to be 320 kmh in most cases.

[panzerd18]

I have found its best to land with power on. Don't even ♥♥♥♥♥♥ the throttle to idle, maintain the power all the way to the ground and fly it onto the ground. Pulling off the throttle, the aircraft goes from flying, to flying like a rock.

I really must read the manual, however in my english cockpit mod, there is a landing throttle decal that works nicely to fly it onto the runway.

[Chameleon_Silk]

yea you don't throttle back till your down on the runway, throttle setting doesn't matter much as long as your within the 320-340kmh range... make sure you don't have much fuel or stores on the plane though because that does effect landing speed and the safety of the landing in general.

[Derbysieger]

As already mentioned, an approach from 10km distance/600m altitude/340km/h at about 85-90% RPM works best but since this isn't real life and we don't need to worry about the tires life span it's ok to land a bit fast.

I have my best lendings when I come in at just the right speed. 320-340km/h over the threshold and touch down at 270-300km/h (depending on the weight of the aircraft) works best for me. Max permissible landing speed is 330km/h but there are safety margins so you can land at higher speeds.
Aerobraking can be a bit tricky when coming in fast though. The aircraft likes to go up again when you're coming in a bit too fast and you're not careful with the stick.

Coming in at the right speed for the weight of your aircraft is crucial and never ever reduce throttle below 60%RPM before your main landing gear is on the ground.

[Troll Norris]

At 1st!
You have to watch your weight.
You really should not be heavier than 7300Kg => You can land only when you have 1200L of fuel with no payload or with less than 700L of fuel with payload. 600L of fuel is the best options for 2 go-arounds.

If you will have ovelroaded plane, you will need high speed over 350kph and your SPS(BLC) system can fail because it is automtically turned on by microswitch at flaps and when the flaps are heavily loaded then it can move a bit which causes releasing of that microswitch. [SPS(BLC) is blowing flaps system which is greatly increasing aircraft's lift by 0.5 tons.] Also gears are made for maximum airspeed 360kmph and wheel dampes are able to damp descent rate max 3m/s.

Do not use less trottle than 60% because under 60% the nozzle will open and aircraft is loosing all its thrust and lift.

At 2nd:
How to determine your approach speed:
Make a level flight and slow down your speed.
Under 600kph you can extend gears.
Check the nose cone is fully retracted. (because when it is not then SPS(BLC) can not be turned on)
Under 500kph flaps middle position.
Under 400kph, flaps full.
Still hold level flight and watch the AoA indicator.
When the AoA indicator will indicate 7-8 deg - you have reached your best approach speed.
AoA>8 = you are too slow. AoA<7 = you are too fast
When you have AoA 8, you also can see where are you flying. The Bottom edge of HUD glass is approximately pointing your flight path vector.


Then you can approach as usually. Use throttle for changing descent rate and stick for changing air speed. Your descent rate should be 5-7m/s so adjust your alt to hold your vector on the edge of runway.

At inner marker (1km from the runway, high sound "beep") start slowly decreasing the throttle but never under the 60% and change pitch to slow and hold descent rate max 3m/s!!! This is very important. The best setting is hold 2m/s. 3m/s is quite hard landing and more will cause bump or breaking the gear.

Once touchdown, throttle to idle, extend air breakes, release breake chute and try to hold your nose 10-14° above horizont so your plane drag works as big airbreake. After nose wheel touchdown, start breaking by wheel breakes.

If you do everything correctly then the "landing track" will not be longer than 1 km and you will get a smooth touchdown.

Have a nice landings! I will try to make some "tutorial" video how to land....when I will have enough will and time. Hope this "guide" will help someone.

Good luck

Edit: Added some notes and some grammar corrections.

[Hadji]

In addition to Troll Norris post: retract flaps as soon as you hit the deck since that will make wheel brakes more effective and shorten the distance to full stop.

[Chameleon_Silk]

yes Troll Norris took time to post a much better and detailed guide and everything looks correct to me, the only thing I have to add is that touching down at 1 m/s or 2 m/s descent is best, do your best to be as gentle as can be when initally touching down.... its very easy because of the speeds involved to really come thumping in, you have plenty of time to stop with the chute and wheel brakes so make that extra effort for a gentle touchdown.

[Troll Norris]

Note: for compare 1m/s=196.9 ft/min (I note this because in US aircrafts the variometer is scaled in ft/min) 3m/s=590.6 ft/min so RUS landing gear is really bit stronger than US landing gear.